The present invention relates to portable worklights providing wide area lighting.
Portable worklights are well known for use on construction sites, in automotive shops, for do-it-yourself projects around the home and for many other uses. The worklights typically take the form of one or more worklight heads mounted on a base, which may form a stand for setting the worklight on the ground or work surface and which may additionally or alternatively be formed for mounting on a tripod. The worklight heads are generally directional in that they illuminate a confined area lying in a particular direction. In some models the heads are designed to provide a wide area of illumination extending, say, in the forward direction; in other models the illumination may be more focused. In recent years worklights using halogen lamps as the light source have been popular because these lamps are extremely bright. More recently, fluorescent lamps have been used in worklights and in particular the so-called compact fluorescent lamps having a self-contained ballast. To provide a wider area of coverage or to provide more light or both, a common form of worklight includes two worklight heads mounted on the same base, which may be aimed in different directions.
In some circumstances the directional nature of the worklight is undesirable. For example, when two or more construction workers are working in the same room, they may each need a conventional worklight to illuminate their respective work areas. It is not uncommon to find several worklights in a room under construction or even two worklights placed back-to-back in a makeshift attempt to provide more comprehensive 360-degree illumination, for example, for painting the room.